Warriors' Judgement
by Zenatyra
Summary: It is said that warriors who are in love will fight all the harder. Lenalee and Miranda just have to hope that the Innocence understands.
1. Of Starlight and Propositions

"There you are, Miranda. I wanted to show you someth-are you alright?" Lenalee said quietly to the woman slumped over a scattered pile of reports; surrounded by an accidental fortress of reference books. When Miranda looked up, all she could see were wide eyes filled with the cold, safe light of the library's attendant golems. They nearly covered for the faint blush.

"Y-you… what? I'm fine… But I need to read… for tomorrow's mission…"

"They'll keep. Come with me." The smiling girl said, taking hold of the woman's hand. Miranda, her legs complying, tripped over the tangle of chair legs and her's only to be caught, and righted by a laughing Lenalee. She pulled her away: out of the room, to the spiral stairs and elevators, guided by the light pressure on her wrist.

Miranda, being dragged along like a kite in the girl's power as they raced up the tower, memorized the touch that, though simple, made the wonderful, warm, confusing, feeling of chosen-ness well up as if her lungs were filling with tiny bubbles. There was a trapdoor in the ceiling, and when there wasn't; time stopped. Sound stopped. Everything stopped except the stars. The clear night held lights that she'd never seen through the soot of cities, and clouds that now massed below their feet.

Miranda barely noticed the gentle pressure on her wrist lift. "They're… So many… Thank you…"

The girl was leaning on the low wall, gazing off, as if trying not to look at the woman. "They are." She said "But I also wanted to ask you something."

"What... did you want to ask me…" Miranda said, her base state of low grade panic reasserting itself.

"Calm down… and bear with me. This may come out wrong… I was wondering if I could ask how… what you want from me."

"Want? That's a clinical way to think…" Miranda said, and turning her face away out of habitual propriety, whatever that was, muttered "You've already done more for me than I could ever…'

"It works." She said, still staring away through the redness that welled under her eyes, and her struggle not to acknowledge it. "From the way you are around me, I'd think that you either want to be like me, or … ahem… me… I'm willing to help you train if that's all it is, but I thought I'd… ask." The girl's feeble attempt to hide her head in her folded arms only lead to the shiver as the cold of the stone support slowly sapped her.

Miranda looked around, desperately searching for a hint about how to cheer the girl. The girl that was so talented, and resilient, and was letting herself be transparent… for Miranda… and Miranda alone. The stones and cold stars offered nothing.

That made it harder. Miranda knew exactly what was going on in the mixed up anxieties and false confidence, and worry that stemmed from too much loss and too little privacy. No one had ever bothered to lift her out of that… at least no one she cared to remember. What was supposed to happen next.

On an impulse that vetoed her brain, Miranda moved in close, parted the curtain of black hair that hid reddening cheeks and brushed awkward lips against the revealed ear. _It was going to go wrong, lips too chapped. It's your own damn fault, Miranda, you always bite them when you're nervous. Breath too fast, fingers shaking, poking. God, why did the wonder girl focus on the perennial failure. _"I guess there's no fooling you." She eventually came up with. Quietly, quaveringly, she tried to cover her own burning embarrassment with simple admissions.

Lenalee's head raised slowly, staring forward once the awkward intimate gesture broke. When she looked at Miranda again the blush was gone, unless it had transferred with their touch, augmenting the blood in the woman's cheeks. She was smiling, brightly, honestly, and it lit her up, made her look like she'd float away if she didn't keep a hand on Miranda's cheek. When did the hand move? She didn't know, but the fingers that trailed along her face, gently guided her eyes to close, and then dragging dark trails down from the shadows and the self-inflicted boundary lines.

"Why… I mean… I haven't done anything to deser…" Miranda said, only to be interrupted and her mind wiped blank by arms encircling her, and fingers entwining themselves in hair around her neck.

The smile broke for a second. "You don't need to" she said sternly.

"But I'm no good at…" Miranda started to insist but found a finger on her lips.

"You're fooling no one but yourself, Mistress Lotto." The smiling girl said, releasing the woman's voice. "Would you like to try something? I've got a few ideas..." she lightened her hold on shoulder stopped her exploration of the woman's features, and waited patiently.

Miranda looked over all the things that could go wrong, at the speed of a worrier in the heat of a moment. Every consequence was worthwhile, she decided… well… except one. She wrapped her arms around Lenalee's waist feeling layers of fabric an metal shift to accommodate her. Just slightly.

"I- I- I think I do" Miranda said quietly "Just… we're still wearing our innocence… Isn't that sort of…"

"It's said that when warriors love each other they fight all the harder. I'm sure the innocence will understand." Lenalee said between laughs. "In any case? Want to test it?"

"What's the test?"

"Come with me, see the world as I see it" her touches traced their way under thin knees and along the spine trying so desperately to curl a woman into a shell. Miranda was lifted up in the surreal strength of Lenalee's arms. Wiry, gentle, but carrying an utter impossibility of frailty or failure. "Do you trust me?" The girl whispered.

The whisper seemed alien: concepts that couldn't possibly come from reality being implied in the questioning. It made her pause, grappling for words. Feeling the arms beneath her relax led her to the words "How could I not?" which came in barely a whisper.

There was a moment where the girl waited in silence. Her gaze tracing the sharp lines and gentle curves that could be seen by stars and the waxing half-moon. It held enough light to bring a heat like sunburn to Miranda's cheeks and the simplicity in her smile conjured every word of thanks and fear of impossibility to the woman's mind. No sign of unease could rise to the surface during those probing, patient moments.

And she jumped.

The girl jumped as if to reach the watchful morning star, if only the God given powers that weighed down her feet and anchored her to the water and air that she stood on would let them escape.

The lightheaded gift of altitude grew stronger and richer in the cold as the height of the arc was reached. Mira whispered, "Invocation" under her breath and the tugging of the ground, now far below, ceased entirely.

"Why, Miranda Lotto, are you attempting to impress me?" Lenalee said with an almost suppressed giggle

"W-was that the wrong thing?" Miranda said, squirming and curling up to avoid those eyes. "It just seemed… like it would come next…"

"I was going to say that it is working." Lena said, craning her neck to look in at Mira, and accidentally sending them spinning.

"W-we should avoid using names in here… Sounds will escape the bubble when I deactivate… and explanations…"

"Understood"

Without the harsh pull of gravity, it was a grasping, desperate thing just to avoid slipping apart, and as Miranda tugged at a sleeve of Lenalee's coat to keep her close she found the treacherous fabric slipping down the girl's arm. As Lena tried to put her arms around Miranda's waist, her own hands found the back of the girl's neck, lips pressing gently to the other's, not unaccompanied by a blush, and her legs tried their best to wrap around the other legs and meld with them.

Lenalee laughed into the kiss at the feel of Miranda's shudder as her touches reached the dark boots. The innocence had reacted to weightlessness by trembling, unsure whether to hover or shoot off into the sky. She whispered in Miranda's ear "I suppose it must be strange. Everything below my waist is numb right now."

"Oh! Sorry, I can…" Miranda started to waver and blush and loosen her grip, but Lenalee silenced her with a kiss, rougher, more exploratory than Miranda's careful ones.

"No, just relax, I have ideas. I've had ideas about you for a while now. Would you let me try them out?" The breath in Miranda's ear saying things almost distracted her from thinking of what these ideas could be, but there were so many ideas that blossomed in her mind that she just hid her face in Lenalee's neck, embarrassed at having thought of them. "Can I take that as a yes?"

Miranda nodded against the girl's neck sure enough that a hand came up to cradle her nose which had knocked itself against the girl's collar bone painfully several times. She was still too embarrassed to make a sound, and pressed herself into all the hollows the girl's clothed body presented her with, any way that the girl could be her shell. She could feel every roll of the girl's laughter.

Fingers brushed aside the hair on Miranda's neck, she found her shell pulling away from her, and though she tried to get back to that comfortable place, it was soon replaced by lips on her neck, fingers at buttons. Silver buttons that separated them, slowly being undone. Chill coming upon her as fabric was pulled back from her shoulder and teeth nipped at the pale skin exposed. Shivers coming upon her as a heel was brushed, ever so lightly, along her inner thigh. And more as it was brought upward closer, with the care of a puppeteer.

Miranda, coat and shirt hanging open, corset exposed, felt as some of the lessons she'd been taught, about what to wear in front of people, how to act in company, how not to look like a… lady of easy virtue… fell away, far down to the ground, past the tower, and through the clouds. She would never be like this in front of them. This was the way Lenalee wanted her to be. Something about that was extremely liberating. She looked in the girl's eyes, patient eyes, which had felt her movement and waited for her. "I mean yes, Lenalee. Yes." She said, as her hand took Lenalee's carefully and she brushed lips over the fingers, and then, to the girl's jaw.

Lenalee started giggling enough that she bit at her hand, still clutching Miranda's to stifle it. The girl's legs were slowly brought up to wrap tightly around Miranda's waist, sending waves of vibration through the bound flesh, along the steel bands most intensely, making her tremble so violently it was a wonder that her heart regained its beating.

Needing to find a way to bring herself back, Miranda hooked an arm around Lenalee's neck, drawing the girl's head into her chest. She fumbled at the hair ties which held the girl's black hair. Pulling them away, and burying her fingers in the freed hair, she admired the way each freed strand waved vaguely upward like seaweed, toward the moon, but would stay in the ripples that her fingers left, until Lenalee would move her head.

The girl brushed lips over the woman's eyes, nose, lips, jaw, spreading her over-abundant kohl to each place, no matter how delicately placed, there would be a mark. These warriors were so careful about their caresses that they blushed at their hesitation. They had seen each other fight. They had seen each other suffer. They could barely touch each other for the chance of becoming one of the many things that she would heal from.

The woman's coat was slid off her arms, and they spun with the force of throwing clothing to the ground. Lena's legs loosened, her hands gripped Miranda's hips, so that her legs could come back to her. The girl managed to spin, with her hands as the axis and only minor accidental kicks to Miranda's head. Or was it Miranda who spun? The moon and the ground were utterly uninteresting now. The girl drew her legs to hook knees around the woman's shoulders, every muscle that she had honed in strength and definition pressed into Miranda's sides. "Hold these for me." She said, straight faced but just barely, looking over her shoulder to see how confused the woman was. The confusion nearly melted before it could be read. "Are you alright?"

"Oh… err… Yes…"

"having second thoughts?"

"No…"

"Then everything is fine." She gave a blinding smile, but as she turned back to sliding her fingers along tapes hiding the rows of buttons that held up her pants. Miranda found herself biting her lip in anxiety, and at the heat shooting through her ribs which were not to be dwelt upon in company. Each button levered out of its eyelet intensified anticipation, yet when her pale, light starved thighs were freed from sliding fabric, Miranda turned them in, involuntarily, hiding her vulnerability, ineffectually.

She felt as if her spirit was floating free, many times the size of her body, enfolding and caressing and supporting them, and her energy was being given to Lenalee. She felt a disconnect between her excitement and her fatigue, and in between those feelings were the two of them.

In between those feelings were the light trails that Lenalee was drawing in goosebumps with her finger nail. Lightly asking for Miranda to relax, and just making her giggle and close up more. The soft flesh that Miranda hadn't trained away embarrassed her at these close quarters. But it seemed to fascinate Lenalee, she was poking at it, finding the places that pulled laughter out of Miranda, pulling heat out, pulling movement out.

Miranda's relaxation allowed Lenalee access to areas that had been hidden, she ran fingers down jagged indents in the woman's skin. Embarrassed that they had been seen Miranda pressed her face into her shoulder, and it's resident boot. She had to pretend that she wasn't squirming. Lenalee stopped for a moment before brushing her lips over them instead, each one she could until she could stretch no father down. "What are you embarrassed about?"

Miranda's fierce stripes told a story of when she grew nearly overnight. They were the start of a time when she could barely walk without tripping. Barely talk without someone mentioning her gangly arms, and lanky legs. And as Lenalee's forehead and pokes nudged the garment down her shins, the trophies of those embarrassments marked themselves in dark and light splashes. "they aren't parts of me that I like to…"

"Miranda" The girl unwound a leg, nearly bare apart from tight shorts, her skirt, and her boots, brought it away from the woman, displaying delicately, at a right angle to her body. Miranda swallowed. "look at me. You aren't judging me for mine. These legs are seen as tools and weapons, and sometimes I believe that. But they're part of me." Lenalee said, in as steadfast a voice as she'd ever used. She arched her back to reach and Miranda found her empty hand guided along the girl's thigh. Feeling marks that Miranda had never noticed on the girl. The marks, gentler ones from growing, and harsher from fighting crossed her no less intensely than Miranda's. "We aren't made of marble, Miranda. Why should I expect you to be polished."

"Oh…" Miranda breathed, as Lenalee's soft voice commanded the world to redefine itself, clarify itself.

"You're all you need to be." The girl said, looking at her nails quizzically. Shook her head. She slid down the last piece of Miranda's cloth so that it too gathered somewhere near the woman's ankles, again she was anchored to her waist with both hands. Straightening her other leg, with the grace of a dancer, the warrior spun around her hands, armoured feet tracing crescent moons through her lover's vision. At the stop, she straddled Miranda's waist, legs entangled with the other's, toes pulling at shins, back straight, and fingers guiding lips together.

Lips opened as Miranda's hands buried themselves in the girl's hair and they moved over one another. A way to continue the dance that wound through their many rhythms. The two tunes, merged and manifested in the flowing freedom of their liberated hair, which flew every way and tried to tangle with the other's.

Miranda held Lena's waist as she arched backwards, not opening her eyes, not allowing their kiss to end, with a hand. The girl's hand felt its way down Miranda's body, intent on separation. The careful pads of her fingers made the first touch of the inevitable place. She felt the evidence of that inevitability, and opened her eyes "I didn't mean to tease you…" She started. She stopped. In a strange kind of peace. A smile flickered into being at the dissonance: this was not what she'd been told would happen. The girl, mysterious as ever, pulled her frustrated shaking innocence up, her hand holding the heel loosely, between the part she'd prepared.

The dance gained another step, and a few more tunes. As the trembling calf was drawn along as if it were a whetstone the night before battle, Lenalee, the warrior, found her pace. Releasing her pressure the moment the woman's groans became too intense. Bringing it back as lips touched, neck, collar, breast. Soon the girl learnt Miranda's beat, and captured her voice, breathing it between their lips to hide it, once, twice.

Fatigue was overwhelming Miranda, even as the sphere, that isolated them, kept Lenalee full of energy. Lenalee started to pull the woman's pants back. "but you didn't get to …" Miranda started to protest wearily.

"Next time then" Lenalee said as she kissed Miranda's eyes again. It was enough to coax her into a trusting half-sleep.

The sphere started to collapse, catching the woman as she started to fall, Lenalee guided them gently to the ground.

…

The feeling of arms holding her yielded to the softness of a mattress under her. Eyes opened and the girl whose lingering presence was enough to make the tired woman swoon again murmured, gentle, and sweet, but strong, "If only you knew how redundant it is for you to try impressing me."

* * *

The morning came too early. It came with a knocking at the door, insistent, but with the abbreviated rat tat tat of embarrassment. "Hmm whaaa… What did I do wrong!?" Miranda called as she tripped over her shoes on the floor and pulled a housecoat over her uniform that she had neither taken off, nor closed before passing out.

"Err… nothing… I think… It's Komui, he wants to do the mission briefing fairly soon." Miranda tried to pull the door open but just hit it with her panic.

Finally the door opened. The boy standing outside turned out to be Allen, bearing coffee, evidently as a peace offering. He also had that unreadable smile. Hopefully this wouldn't be too awkward. He was holding a cup of some brown liquid. "I know it's early, so I got you some tea from the kitchen."

"Isn't that usually Lenalee's job" she asked.

"And usually happens to exclude this time. Please, accept it." He held out the cup which Mira cautiously slid her hands under and around. There was something papery he had slid along the bottom of the cup into her hand. His smile said nothing of his thoughts to the men wandering the corridor blearily, or to Miranda.

"Thank you, Allen. That was sweet." She murmured, turning back to her room, shutting the door, setting the cup down, unfolding the note:

_Told K nighttime sound was wind. _

_If secret: safe w me. If not: saw nothing_

_Your move. Good Luck._

Well that was a thing... She got changed into her spare uniform, thankful that it would cover nearly all of the marks. Nearly all… She took a bristle brush to her hair, forcing it to become a mass of feathery locks that curled in around her darkening jaw.

As she left she saw Allen knocking at Lenalee's door. Same smile, same way he held the cup. She had to walk past and found him slightly too much in the way for her to get past without knocking into him. "So sorry, Miranda… It seems I'm a bit clumsy today." And that seemed a bit suspicious, especially with the brush against her hip that his hand had made.

"No problem, Allen, We all have moments like that."

Setting off again towards the chief's office she put a hand in her pocket where Allen's hand had been, a hair tie of Lena's that had not been there five minutes before… If that boy did any more to cover for her she'd start feeling incompetent. But still… it was enough to bring a slight embarrassed blush to her face.

If she'd been playing poker, she'd have lost there and then.

…

In Komui's office were gathered a thoroughly confused looking Reever; Allen complete with his smile; and Lenalee tired as it was possible to be. Of course there was also mountains of paperwork and Komui… but those two were inseparable.

"So Lenalee, and Miranda, you two are to recover innocence that the finders are convinced exists in a convent located in the alps. We're sending you because for some reason the nuns are only allowing female finders into the building proper…" Komui seemed incredibly tired. "but that said, you can't have missed the strange burst of sound that happened last night. Allen says that there aren't any nearby Akuma, but be careful out there. Okay?"

"You're sending just the two of us?" Miranda asked.

"are there objections?"

There was some eye contact but Lenalee spoke first, "No, it should be just fine. The two of us… compliment each other nicely."

* * *

**So I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who ships these two to the moon and back. Come on! Help me correct this grievous lack of femslash.**

**The longest period of work I got done on this was to the tune of "St. Jude" by Florence and the Machine on repeat. Which seems fitting for this pairing, especially from Miranda's point of view.**

**All rights are Hoshino Katsura's, despite my wishes to be as talented as her.  
**

**Please Review, I need to know my annoying habits.**


	2. Of Variously Shaped Cages

On the train, the women looked at each other, and looked away, out the window, before they could burst out laughing.

They heard the ruckus on the roof that suggested a last minute addition was joining their party. Both of them tensed, trying desperately to control their expressions. When the door slid open and the white haired boy waved lightheartedly at them, they relaxed.

"For some unknowable reason…" The boy gave a sweet smile, "our acting didn't quite fool your brother. So he assigned me to meet that sword wielding ball of gloom on a mission just a bit farther than you're going. I guess I'm your chaperone."

"So… Why did you cover for us?" Lenalee eventually said, when she'd found her voice.

"Do I need to explain not telling a story that's not mine to tell?"

"Yes"

"Well honestly, I didn't want to be killed in the overly painful way your brother would have devised for me if I'd said I had walked in on you and the new girl. I swear, I was just trying to figure out what the sound was."

"That I believe." Lenalee said, relaxing a bit more. "But you're acting like you're not phased…"

He looked around in confusion "Am I supposed to be confused by a workplace romance?"

Lenalee had to look away from the earnest face "Well… it's just… it's not exactly... proper."

"Lenalee Lee, You are talking to someone who was raised in the Circus, and then by General Cross… propriety is not exactly something I have a good grasp of…"

Miranda's face was bright red despite her silence "Yes you do… You're always really polite and…"

"Polite?" Allen laughed his gaze turning inward, voice growing thoughtful "Politesse is a safety net. If you don't use it you look dazzling, but only until the trapeze breaks. Propriety is the cage where they keep the tigers. It can make you feel safe, or trap you. Depending on who you are…" he trailed off. When he came back his smile was too bright and he rubbed at his eyes. "Anyways, that's how Mana explained it to me…"

"…you… you must miss the circus a lot…" Miranda ventured.

Allen shrugged. "As if. We're still jumping through hoops, there's just a bit less facepaint, and slightly smaller cages." He said, harshly.

"What? Where did that come from? It doesn't sound like you." Lenalee said, sensing something wrong, but unable to put her finger on it.

"I said that Mana said it… What's so confusing about…"

"No the thing after that…"

"Lenalee… are you feeling okay?" There was no lie on his face. He either was being totally honest about not knowing of the words which sounded so unlike him, or he was using one hell of a poker face.

They passed an uneventful dozen hours in that tiny moving box. Against all Miranda's expectations, no demons attacked, the train did not explode due to its contact with her and her bad luck, Sky-Pirates remained stubbornly non-existent, and eventually, her imagination gave in, letting her drift off to sleep against her… lover's shoulder.

She woke to the violence of a train pulling into their station. That especially recognizeable moment that tells you your destination is close by, and doesn't let you sleep through it, even though you've peacefully ignored a hundred stops before this. She was also aware, painfully aware, of the arms around her keeping her from falling into the lap of the boy across the aisle.

The path from the village with its to the convent was far from scenic, but well-trodden, at the side of the road was the usual litter that was evidence that humans had, indeed been here in passing, had eaten, laughed, been forgetful, and continued on. Thankfully someone seemed to have taken it upon themselves to clear the evidence that horses had been here into the bushes.

Lenalee punched playfully at Miranda's arm, nearly knocking her off the path. "Why so glum?" she had her head to one side trying to see into the adorably embarrassed face of the other. "It's a nice day. We're on a relatively routine mission. We're aaall alone for now, which means we're as safe as we'll ever be. And with Allen on our side we've got a good…" She paused to do the math "Seventh of all the Exorcists in the world supporting our relationship already."

_Relationship? She's already calling it a relationship? Wait, didn't Allen call it a romance? This was all moving too quickly, it was going to go wrong if it was too easy…_ Miranda's thoughts started to spiral into oblivion, only to be halted by the easy smile on the other's face, which caused the girl's eyes to shine and crinkle at the corners. This was easy… informal… and bright. She could see a certain uncertainty in Lena's posture. Like she wasn't used to being alone with another woman and wasn't quite sure how to act. Each action followed by a slight recoil of surprise when it wasn't rejected. _This is as hard for her as for me, isn't it?_ She thought, and somehow it calmed her.

"Oh, It's nothing… It's just… I'm kind of forgetful and…"

"And what?" Lena held up her travelling bag. "I probably have whatever you need."

"… and I'm starting to think I should have asked Johnny to make some design changes to this uniform."

"What do you mean?" Lena looked her up and down the well-fitting jacket and pants drew all sorts of stares from townsfolk not used to seeing a woman in men's clothing, but a mix of respect for the exorcist badge, and healthy fear of the protectiveness that excessive staring brought out in Lenalee, meant that few people commented. Just like in the male uniforms, the black sections seemed to close them in, while the white stripes drew the eye and framed important areas, like the badge, and chevrons. The only strange thing was how thick white stripes on the inside of the pant legs drew the eyes to… The inner thighs of the pants, which were white… "Oh… OHH… I see… damn…"

"Yeah, you know how it is… you don't think about these things until… and even if I had it, there's not really enough room under this for my belt…"

Lenalee had stopped and was rifling through her carpet bag. "hmm… I'm sure I brought some of these with me when I… Ah here they are!" She tossed Miranda a small black bag.

"What are…"

"I believe they're called tampions in French. I found some fairly ineffective ones meant for stoppering bullet wounds, and I… well, I had the guys in the science department work on them."

"I… I think I get the picture…" Miranda was blushing furiously… "Thanks."

"Some of the guys think I get shot an awful lot." Lena laughed affectionately "considering how clever they are, they sometimes have very selective perceptions."

"I… I can imagine…"

"Do you want to find a spot to rest and-"

"NO…. It's not urgent… err… thank you…"

Lenalee smiled brightly, "Then lets go! It's a long hike, but I couldn't ask for better company." The girl seemed to take pleasure in saying things like that, which pulled Mira, out of her thoughts, leaving her vaguely admiring.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, one not knowing what to say, and the other having nothing that needed to be said. As they got closer to the looming medieval building, they could make out a strange, vaguely humanoid figure, halfway up a tree. The figure, as it grew in detail, turned out to be a nun, her skirts tied up around her knees to allow her to climb easier with a huge pair of shears.

Miranda flinched as a branch half the width of her arm toppled onto the path in front of her. The Sister seemed as startled to see them as they were to see her.

She scrambled back down the branches and jumped when she was low enough to land safely. She started fussing over them, making sure they were okay, and apologizing profusely for being caught working on something as potentially embarrassing. She fussed until she recognized the starburst badges they both wore. "Oh, I see… so you're here for the Anchorite…"

"Yes. We are, could you tell us about her?"

"I don't know much 'bout it… it's creepy, but pilgrimage for 'er is all that's keeping us afloat… You're going to have to pull every bit of authority you have, with the Mother, because with Magda gone, this place isn't going to last."

"What makes it creepy?" Miranda asked, before realizing that her definitions of normal had shifted drastically from the norm.

"W-Well it's still talking isn't it? The bones dried up and got taken away by animals a hundred years ago, but she's still jabbering her gibberish as if she was alive!" the sister said getting faster and faster with every word. "She was born with a devil's mark but she didn't want it, so she got made an anchorite, last rites and mortar for the poor little girl, and she grew taller than her cell, so she never stood up straight in her life, and she'd get food for nonsense, being the illiterate girl that she was, and she died like that."

Lenalee and Miranda exchanged a look. "Were there any strange stories about what happened to people who came to see her?" Lenalee asked.

The Sister motioned for them to follow her as she led them around the convent and in through a side door, trying to calm her speech. "Yeah, that's why I say it's the Devil's mark, not a miracle." She paused "They say that when she speaks in tongues, she turns people into monsters. They follow her commands, and went off to Hell to do her bidding there."

Another look between the exorcists "Well you weren't harbouring a demon. That's all we can tell you to calm you about this."

"Wait what? If she's not a demon then what is she?"

"One of us" Miranda said, "One who slipped through the cracks"

"Lucky girl" Lenalee muttered sullenly. Not noticing the looming presence in front of them.

"No one here is one of you." The figure said harshly, glaring at the hands of the exorcists which had found each other during the winding journey and were holding on by fingertips. Miranda snatched her hands away and held them tight to her chest trying to suppress a blush.

Lenalee left hers at her side, though her eyes narrowed in anger. Who did this woman think she was, talking down to apostles? "So no one here is on God's side in this apocalyptic battle. Thank you for being so forthright. You just made our jobs a lot easier." She said in a sweet growl.

Miranda gulped. "Nononono we didn't mean…"

Lenalee invoked her innocence.

The woman was not going to stand down, a young woman seething with rage evidently did not rank on her list of people whose authority she would respect. "Don't be ridiculous, girl, of course I am on God's side! But I run this establishment, and maintaining the health and purity of these young women is my job. If you think I cannot spot your kind you are sadly mistaken."

"My kind?!"

"Yes your kind! Now unless you have actual business here, leave, and spread your lies somewhere else"

Miranda who was shivering with nerves suddenly realized a way out of this. She started digging through papers that had been given to them without any semblance of order.

Meanwhile, Lena hadn't given up her stance "What lies would those be?"

"God would never give up apostles to this modern sickness."

"What sickness is this, pray tell? I can assure you we"

"WE HAVE BUSINESS FROM THE ORDER" Miranda was panting from the effort and holding out a slightly crumpled piece of paper at arms length, cringing her head into her neck and closing her eyes defensively. The paper was snatched from her hands and carefully examined, the seal, and the signatures scrutinized, searching for any sign of forgery.

Lenalee froze and deactivated her innocence. Coming down off her anger.

The Mother gave a tight little snort of disapproval before waving over a sister "very well then, show them to their rooms"

"one will be sufficient" Lenalee said, much more calmly, while looking at the stress their fight was putting on Miranda.

"No it will not, we do not wish to risk any scandal coming down on us, You will be treated as one of our own."

"No, mother, you must understand, we live very dangerous lives, and one of us must be on watch for the other's safety at all times. It is protocol, not my call to make."

"Oh but I insist."

"No I insist, protocol when someone attempts to separate us is to treat them with suspicion and question them about their involvement with the demonic world."

The mother's resistance visibly faded as she was forced to submit to Lenalee's force of will. "Fine, take them to their _room_. They can investigate St. Magda when the festival is over."

When they were out of earshot, the sister who was guiding them let out a long sigh of relief. "I've never seen anyone stand up to the Mother Superior for so long" she said with just a hint of admiration.

"Really? It wasn't even very heated…" Lenalee said, as her mind wandered. She ignored the incredulous stares of the other two.

Miranda hesitantly spoke up "Lena… it was… if you'd been Kanda you'd be a murderer by now…"

Lena was still slightly absent… "Hmm… if things get messy here do you think we could call in Kanda, I mean if he wore that kimono of his and put his hair down he might pass as…"

The sister guiding them suppressed a laugh. "Mistresses Exorcists, here is your room, if there is anything you need, please ask, I… I know I shouldn't, but I wish you were able to stay with us for longer than a few days." She blushed a bit "I'm sincerely sorry for how you've been treated."

Lenalee patted the girl on the head "Don't worry about it. It'll take more than this to wear us down."

The girl smiled shyly. "I'll leave you to it then… it's late and I need to go learn the hymns for the festival tomorrow… don't tell the mother I left it this long, Please"

"Your secret's safe with us," Lenalee said, entering the room, after Miranda and closing the door. The room was small, with thick walls a thin tall window without glass but with a wooden shutter. It would be the perfect place for someone to ambush someone who got her strength from ease of movement.

Miranda had already thrown herself down on the hard, short, bed that occupied one wall of the room. "Oh thank the heavens that's over with…" she sighed.

"Its only just begun."

"You think?"

"Yes."

"Then you… You really shouldn't have… I mean… I'm not worth…"

"Defending? Miranda, It is my pleasure to protect you."

"but if it's just going to cause more issues…"

"It's not" Lena sat down on the edge of the bed near Miranda's head. "Come on, sit up, let me help you get ready for bed."

Miranda did as she was told, slightly embarrassed in the silence broken only by the tiny noises of a comb sliding along her scalp. The intimate movements were soothing but made her nervous. "I'm sorry" she murmured.

"Don't be."

"No… I…"

"Listen," Lenalee said in her lowest audible voice "the only thing I'd never forgive you for wouldn't give you the opportunity to apologize. Compared to that this is nothing."

"I still can't just…"

"BUT, don't put yourself in unnecessary danger."

"What? I wasn't…"

"Because they were 'just words'"

"Right…"

Lenalee tensed and tried not to be as rough on Miranda's hair as her stress wanted her to be "right… because poison, slowly administered, invisible, seeping through veins and becoming part of your tissues could never hurt you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh nothing." Lenalee said, calmly braiding Miranda's hair "I'm not going to let you get away with not defending yourself from now on, though. If it helps to think that you are defending me then do it. Anyone who insults the person that I have chosen is insulting me, and you wouldn't stand for that." She leaned in and gave a light peck on the now exposed ear. "But if you let poisoned words go unrefuted you allow them in"

"I've been called names all my life though… it's not that…"

"Mira," Lenalee's voice had a note of sadness in it, and her hands stopped moving. "Smoldering despair is what lets people get talked out of their lives." Lenalee crawled around on the bed until she was sitting up in Miranda's lap. She put a hand to the woman's chin, and taking note of the small nervous smile that emerged as Miranda's eyes darted to her lips, she tilted her head and leaned in closer, inviting Miranda to kiss her. Miranda did, hesitantly, not knowing what to do after first contact. Then Lena pulled away, still too soon. It would probably always be too soon, even with clumsy affection. "Get some rest". She said, even though tiredness danced in the fluttering of her eyelids, desperate to stay awake.

"I slept on the train though. You should sleep."

"I'm sure that ride was very restful." Sarcasm dripped off the girl's words. "besides, I've got a book to read. While I keep watch." She got off the bed, dug through her bag until she found a small book written in Chinese. She blushed slightly "It'll keep me entertained…" she said, "I'll wake you in a couple hours. Okay?"

"Okay." Miranda yawned. It was strange. _How silly Lenalee is being. _She thought fuzzily. _I'll never fall asleep in this state… I've run on much less sleep… so many times… all those times I felt… _The thought trailed off as her perception of the world faded away.

…

…

…

She woke slowly, hazily, to the distant sound of singing. Soft candlelight emanating from the corner of the room illuminated the peaceful scene of the most amazing woman Miranda could imagine, peacefully reading and idly waving her free hand over the tiny flame for the warmth. She admired for a few moments before Lena registered the change in atmosphere and smiled gently, tiredly at her.

"Hey Sleeping Beauty." She said "I was about to wake you up, it's your turn to keep watch."

"Is there…" there was a clatter. A nail had fallen out of the candle, into the little brass dish.

Lena laughed quietly, "and there goes the alarm."

"Is there really a chance that anything bad will come along?"

"As high as we ever have." Lena said vaguely, sticking the nail farther down the taper. "So that should be about three hours. Wake me up then. Did you think to bring anything to keep yourself busy?" She walked over to the bed and sat down on the side of it.

"I…I thought we wouldn't have time to be idle." Miranda Blushed, and Lena kissed the top of her head.

"Aww… Mira… Always bring a book with you, first rule of travelling for work." She said sympathetically.

"What about that one you had, could I…?"

Lena grabbed the book and opened it to a random page, "Can you read this?" the book was written in Chinese. Mira, indeed couldn't understand a word.

"What… what's it about?" she asked.

Lena scratched at the back of her head… "Wellllll…"

"If you don't want to say that's…"

"No, it's just that Lavi grabbed one of these from me once and turned bright red when he realized what it was."

Miranda looked at it for incriminating details. All she saw was a little publisher's stamp that looked like a fruit of some sort with a bite out of it. "W-what is it?"

"It's a romance… I'll tell you more in the morning, I really do need to sleep."

Miranda took her place on the chair. The singing really was relaxing. Was it really still time for hymns? As Lenalee settled in to sleep, she started to hum along to the sound, quietly and encouraged by a smile and a comfortable snuggling, hugging the blanket.

The lights in a far room, barely visible from their window, dimmed and one light moved through the hallways. The sound continued unchanged, into the small hours of the morning.

Mira long ago found herself in a vague trance from the singing. She thought of practicing with her innocence. She tried very small things. Freezing the candle flame. Creating bubbles of stopped time around the middle of the candle so that dripping wax took new directions and cooled.

Eventually she just sat and listened. She didn't know what she'd expected, that they'd be fighting nonstop once they got here? That they somehow would not need to sleep due to rushes of adrenaline?… She had never expected that she'd be sitting around looking for something to do. Never expected that the option of watching her lover sleep would be the most difficult thing to refuse to do.

Whoever was singing is really tireless. How does she do it?

After a time which was shorter than it felt like, but longer than anticipated, the sun rose quietly, unobtrusively, bringing her out of her trance. She became aware of a strange weak sound which interrupted the peace of the song. She looked towards where she heard it from, and saw, tiny, but recognizable, the explosion of an exorcised demon.

She ran over the bed and accidentally landed on Lena, who had pinned her down before she even opened her eyes, out of reflex. "Oh… good morning, dear. Sorry about that."

"No… not a problem…" Miranda said, disoriented "There's… well there was… I don't really know… but demons… a demon…"

"Was?"

"Yeah, I just saw it get exorcised."

"But we both…"

"I know."

"We need to investigate this."

"That's why I woke you up."

Lena smiled "Good thinking, love." And she released Mira and climbed out of bed, pulling her long dress on.

Miranda lay for a few seconds, staring at the ceiling, piecing apart the blur of movement that led to her position. Her cheeks flushed slightly, before she suppressed thoughts and tried to focus on the task at hand. Hand… there was a hand extended to her.

"You remember where it was, I trust?" Lena said patiently.

"Umm… I think so" Mira bit her lip, nervously, before letting Lena help her up.

They made their way around the convent as quietly as they could manage. Thankfully they encountered no resistance in sneaking outside. When Miranda was certain that they were near where they had to be, she stopped. There were pilgrims standing around the anchorage, in the pale dawn's light, but no sisters attending to them.

Lena held a hand out to Miranda, pointing to the dress she wore to hide her uniform. "Back me up" she whispered, before walking off without a backward glance. Miranda hid, just close enough to hear what was being said, and activated her innocence in readiness. Not that she knew how she could back up Lena with only a support skill.

"My good fellows why are you here so early in the morning." Lena said, jovially. The nearest man glared at her, he had a migraine, judging by the way he persistently rubbed at one spot of his head the entire time. "Is no one going to answer me?"

"Ain't you here for the same reason?" A woman standing behind migraine man demanded.

"Oh, no, I'm new to the convent, I simply wondered why your needs were not being met." It would be shameful if we let our pilgrims want once they made the long trek up here, in the darkness no less."

The glaring man considered for a second, looking her up and down, from her hair to the slit in the side of her otherwise respectable skirt. "You don't look like a nun." He snarled.

"Oh well when I say new, I mean very new. They haven't found me a habit that fits yet."

"hmmph"

The woman looked at her even more suspiciously as the man turned away. The pilgrims seemed to be keeping their distance from the anchorage, one gave a distinctly venomous glance at Lena and then threw a few coins into the anchorage. Lena walked toward the object of hesitant devotion, and gestured to the assembled people. "No need to be shy, our saint Magda won't bite." She laughed.

The people who were gathered around eyed each other. Some sort of deception was flashing in all of their eyes.

Miranda wanted to yell to Lena to get out of there, that it was too dangerous to rely on someone like Miranda. Her inability to trust her own ability to provide support did not overcome her trust that Lena knew what she was doing, so she stayed silent.

The man with the migraine took a tiny step forward as Lena's head was peeking into the anchorage innocently. He started to change against his own will, monstrously, painfully, reverting into his demonic form. He raised an arm to begin shooting. If he was going down, he wasn't going to go down hungry.

"LOOK OUT" Mira yelled, and froze the demon in his own bubble of time.

Lena smirked "I knew it"

The other travelers gaped for a second. Then the suspicious woman snarled "Exorcists"

Lenalee activated her innocence. Miranda ran to stand back to back with Lenalee.

All of the travelers began to change as they saw the others of their number reveal their identities. They were grunts, hardly even target practice, but there were many of them. Lena whispered, "Stay close to the wall, Magda's fighting with us."

"Wait, what?" Mira said as she felt a renewed awareness of the chanting she'd heard all night, coming from behind her, and growing in intensity. Lena jumped off, and took out a demon in a smooth movement. Miranda let the demon she had been holding go, and focused on forming a field to give Lena energy.

That didn't work.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a gun being levelled at Lena's dancing form.

Before she could process the decision, time had stopped around the top half of the demon and the bottom slid away. Pulled by gravity, and exploded like the others.

Another was trying to get as close to Mira as possible without actually getting near the anchorage's window. Miranda had no idea what she had just done. She had no idea how to replicate it, so she raised a shield for herself and called to Lena, who was finishing off the penultimate remaining demon. Coming to the rescue, the girls dropped their defences, and in the light of the last explosion, Lenalee fell into Miranda's arms.

When they'd caught their breath Miranda said "Thank you! You saved me again!"

"Excuse me! I believe that's my line." Lena pressed kisses into the top of Mira's head "Don't think I didn't see that little stunt" She looked Miranda over "Its an offensive power too. Miranda, you never cease to amaze."

Mira was blushing "…not…" she started but then she looked into Lenalee's expression of amused disapproval "I mean… You asked me to watch your back. It's not worth praise that I did." She watched the disapproval disappear from the features, and felt her own words reach inside her and run through her veins warmly. She squeezed Lena, and let her go, returning to the task at hand. They looked into the gloom of the tiny, doorless room.

The small glowing dot in the gloom of the anchorage indeed looked like innocence. But if you weren't looking for innocence, all there would be was the sounds of chanting, showing up in your head as if it were your own thoughts.

Lenalee tried to squeeze through the small window, but couldn't manage it. Backing away to look at it like she was trying to solve a puzzle, she came to a conclusion.

"Shouldn't we go get the…"

KEUSHHHdadadata

Lenalee had simply kicked at one side of the smaller building. Making the wall collapse. She ducked inside, and ignored the shocked noises coming from Miranda.

"It lasted 500 years. It would have lasted another hour…"

"There was a fight." Lenalee said, searching through the rubble. Finding the object of her search as the roof started to slouch. Miranda set a shield above Lena's head, and the falling slate and timber slid off the anomaly. "It's not the first time we've had collateral damage in a battle…. Oh eww… did you bring the vial for innocence?"

Miranda looked through her pockets, eventually finding it, and handing it to Lenalee. "I… don't like the deception…"

Lena grimaced as small triangular thing, made of an extremely familiar red, flakey flesh, prominently bearing a cross, into the vial "It's not as though this kind of deception is that bad, comparatively…" The noise had attracted attention from the sisters, and they could hear frantic footsteps coming towards them "Mira, do you still have that warrant on you?"

"No…"

"alright." Lena took off her overdress, put the innocence vial in a pocket on her belt, and unfastened the starburst badge from her chest.

As the first of the sisters came into their line of sight Lena put on a posture that everyone who had seen her argument with the Mother Superior would know to take seriously.

"What… What did you do to the anchorage?!"

"There was a battle, I'm sorry I could not shield your building. Now I need to speak with the Mother Superior" she barked her orders and those low enough in the hierarchy to not want trouble to directly affect them, scurried off to fulfill them.

When they had managed to wake up, and calm down, the Mother Superior they brought her in front of Lenalee who was getting colder and more unapproachable by the second.

"What is the meaning of this?" The Mother superior demanded.

"By the power I hold as a disciple, and exorcist of the Black Order, I am closing this establishment."

"On what grounds?!"

"Your only pilgrims were demons, trying unsuccessfully to remove your protection."

"Those demons have been extremely generous to the church in the last few centuries, then." Mother superior said between clenched teeth "Surely we can find it in our hearts to forgive such repentant sinners"

"Your protecting saint has departed this place, but the demons do not know that. They will come, and it will be a bloodbath if nothing is here to destroy them."

"How dare you imply that about our Saint Magda."

"Your Saint Magda was one of us, and as such her power belongs to the Order." Lenalee fought to control her breathing. "She can save many more people when her power's new bearer is found. Would you put your own profit above their lives?"

The Mother Superior gave in to that. She sighed. "Do as you will. I will start making calls to relocate our girls."

Miranda shook her hands palm out in front of her, "No, that's not necessary, the Order can take care of finding you accomodation!"

"Young women," The defeated Mother Superior sighed, "Give me the one mercy of allowing me to retain my responsibilities. We will bid our beloved buildings farewell if our lives are imperiled. Please do not take us for unreasonable women."

…

And it was done.

All that was left was to bring the innocence back home. The long ride back to the Black Order's European headquarters was more private than the ride to had been. They took the time to laugh, and talk about their worries; question what would be said if accusations, of their having some newly invented sexual disorder, got back to the Order… however accurate those accusations may be.

"So, now that you've worked with me, what do you say? Should we try to get more missions together?" Lenalee asked vaguely, nearly nodding off in the train's compartment.

"D-don't ask silly questions…" Miranda turned away embarrassed as her lover fell asleep in her lap, a smile on her lips.

...

...

* * *

So my most weirdly political fic is back… apparently… along with Lenalee – mistress of harmless conspiracies

Blessed Yule, treat this as your Sabbat present from me. As it is how I occupied myself during the night's vigil.

Fun fact: For most of history most people who menstruated had very few recourses for sanitation. Many cultures just gave women the week off, had them hang out with the other women, in a designated space, and ritually reaffirm their spirituality for a week, while the household chores were done by other people for once. The Victorians didn't have this.

Victorian women wore many layers of dark coloured underwear and just, sort of, dealt with it. Near the end of the Victorian Period (Pun not intended) this device, which was sort of like a large diaper, held up by a metal belt, came into existence, though it was far from taking the world by storm.

Though tampons are known to have been used in Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Japan, the materials were not hugely absorbent, and I don't imagine hugely comfortable, or cheap enough for the average woman.

-Man has enough anachronism in it, though, that I feel safe in giving them this one mercy. If Kanda can have his damn Zippers, Mira and Lena can have this.

I noticed this trend of reading Lena as a Yaoi fangirl, so if you know what the "Bitten Peach" on the spine of her book is nodding towards.

The Doubtful the anchorite is entirely my own fabrication. I did enough research for this fic without turning this into historical fiction.


End file.
